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Gently Raging Bulls,Not-So-Easy Riders

PHOTOGRAPHY IS A TRICKY BUSINESS AT THE BEST OF TIMES

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Proof that four days crammed in the boot of a Range Rover, strapped to an oversize tripod with a climber’s harness was worth it in the end.

Making a friend of chance

Photography is a tricky business at the best of times. Shooting a parked car is difficult enough. Reflections, errant smears, unseen blemishes…every decision and revision giving birth as it does to new problems. Some purely optical – slippery compositional gambits confounded by the characteristics of lens meeting light angle meeting surface meeting distance. Some pertaining to continuity – the passage of time rendering the subject unrecognisable in the sequence owing to changes of conditions outside the control of the photographer.

The whole exercise a game of corralling as much as possible whilst making a friend of chance, allowing it to play its part and claiming the wins as your own when it turns out for the best.

Three dimensional chess

The moving image is a different thing entirely. If shooting stills is a game of chess with Gary Kasparov, this is a pursuit more akin to a game of three dimensional chess with a capricious and impish demigod. Attempting to shoot one car from another (or even worse – a drone) in the rain on bumpy roads is like taking on that chess game under the influence of a strong hallucinogen in a Lancaster bomber in heavy flak.

The films are an expression of everything XL aims for...please enjoy and share them - they are a labour of love.

Credits

So a special round of thanks and great respect is due to all the people who helped make the films you see here a reality. The films are an expression of everything XL aims for and they are a credit to the skills and dedication of their creators – the directors, cameramen, drone pilots, gimbal operators and runners. Please enjoy and share them – they are a labour of love.